Seismic isolation of structures. Part I: Concept, review and a recent development

Abstract

This paper is the first of two companion papers on seismic isolation of structures. Those two papers present the topic since its fundamental concepts; passing through its development history and comparisons of developed isolation systems over time; up to addressing one of the most recent isolation devices, besides a detailed case study of its implementation under severe near-fault earthquakes considering closely-spaced asymmetric multistory structures. The present paper, Part I, introduces briefly the concept of seismic isolation and its development history. Then presents for an application using a recently proposed seismic isolation systems named Roll-in-Cage (RNC) isolator. The objective of the second companion paper, Part II, is to minimize twist of isolated asymmetric structures, together with their torsional pounding with adjacent structures, considering insufficient seismic gaps and strong near-fault ground motions, by means of the RNC isolator.